The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing more stringent limits on the bacteria level in the water Haines’ wastewater treatment releases into Lynn Canal.

The Federal Clean Water Act mandates that all municipalities have both primary and secondary treatments of their wastewater. However, the Section 301(h) Program issues waivers to wastewater treatment plants, allowing them to discharge wastewater with less than full secondary treatment.

Many coastal communities in Alaska, including Haines, Sitka, Petersburg, Skagway and Wrangell have 301(h) waivers. The Haines permit was last issued in 2001 and expired in 2006. The delay was caused by the EPA’s permit backlog, but Suzanne Skadowski, an EPA spokesperson, said the agency is “now striving to reissue permits every five years and Alaska 301(h) facilities are a top priority.”

In May, the EPA proposed to reissue the permit with new pollution limits and more testing requirements.

Haines had 30 days to respond to the draft permit, and the borough sent their comments to the EPA July 3. Dennis Durr, the water and sewer plant manager, said the biggest change in the draft permit is “asking for potentially chlorinating and dechlorinating wastewater” in order to comply with state water quality standards.

However, Skadowski clarified that the reissued permit “requires significant reductions in the amount of fecal bacteria that can be discharged into Portage Cove. The permit does not dictate how these reductions must be achieved…There are a number of options other than chlorine that are typically considered.”

Even without necessarily having to chlorinate Haine’s wastewater, the additional testing, labwork, and treatment processes could be a huge cost to the borough, Durr said.

Once a permit is issued, Haines has five years to comply with the new regulations. “It would take some time, (but) I don’t think anything is impossible,” said Durr.

In their comments, the borough emphasized the potentially prohibitive costs to making the changes, along with the fact that the department is only supported by three operators.

Skadowski said that cost is not an allowable consideration under the law when setting limits, but “EPA has increased funding available to the State of Alaska as a result of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in November 2021, (and) the Clean Water Act funding through the State Revolving Fund is at the highest level in its 35-year history.”

But Haines would still need to apply for the money, which it hasn’t been able to do because it doesn’t have the staff.

“What we need is to have a grants administrator, but we just lost one, and now we got someone new in there. Turnover seems to be an issue,” said Durr.

Another challenge facing the Haines wastewater system is infiltration, which is when stormwater or groundwater gets into the wastewater network. Infiltration is not currently not addressed in the draft permit. “We’re asking them to really take a look at infiltration. It’s so inconsistent, it’s hard to make the permit work for the inconsistencies we have around here. Your strength of wastewater really changes when you got lots of rainwater in there,” said Durr.

The EPA is set to visit Haines’ wastewater facility next month, and Durr said he expects the permitting process to take another few months.